In U.S. Pat. No. 5,526,759 issued June 18th 1996 by Cox is disclosed an apparatus for laying chick feed support paper. Such paper is used to provide a protective layer on the floor of a containment pen on which the hatchlings are placed when supplied to the pen to grow into larger birds. It is well known that placing the hatchlings or chicks on paper strip with feed immediately accessible to them reduces mortality and encourages growth.
Traditionally such paper strip is laid manually by unrolling from a roll and a strip of feed material is poured or placed on the strip before the chicks are manually carried in to the pen and deposited on the paper with the feed.
Cox provides a trailer arrangement which carries a roll of the paper strip, in which a groove is formed in the material, such as straw or wood shavings, forming the floor surface and the paper is laid into the groove by a rolling wheel which holds the strip in place as it is unrolled from a supply. This device has apparently found little commercial success and is believed not to be available on the market place.